It has been remarked that the success this year of three films like From Here to Eternity, The Caine Mutiny and On the Waterfront is a hopeful sign, demonstrating that inflationary techniques are not essential to the seduction of mass audiences. All we need are good films…. On the Waterfront is a bad film. Unfortunately, bad films are important too. This one is important because of its special kind of badness, and because of the enormous degree of acceptance it has won….

The film, in fact, has been accepted at its face value; or, more correctly perhaps, at its sensation value—as if it were a strong drink or an electric shock—and liked to a greater or lesser degree, according to individual taste….

Yet a preliminary title to the film is quite specific in its claims. The story will show how "self-appointed tyrants can be defeated by...